The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for efficiently processing wires which fasten a compressed wastepaper block.
Wastepaper such as of newspapers, magazines, or the like, which are collected by a wastepaper collector is compressed by a compressor into a rectangular block, which is then fastened by a plurality of wires and sent to a paper regenerating factory. In the paper regenerating factory, the compressed wastepaper block is loosened by a loosening machine. Prior to the loosening of the compressed wastepaper block, however, the fastening wires must be removed from the compressed wastepaper block.
Heretofore, it has been customary to remove the wires manually. That is, the wires have been cut off, one by one, by a cutter operated by the operator. However, it has been time-consuming to cut off the wires since the wires are deeply embedded in the compressed wastepaper block. The manual process also has had a safety problem since the operator tends to get injured when cutting off the wires.
To solve the above problems, there has been proposed an automatic wire cutting apparatus as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 62-26976.
The disclosed automatic wire cutting apparatus comprises a tooth plate having an array of teeth with pointed ends, another tooth plate having teeth held in intimate contact with the first tooth plate and reciprocally movable longitudinally of the first tooth plate, and a presser mechanism for pressing the tooth plates to force the tooth ends into a compressed wastepaper block for cutting off the wires around the wastepaper block. After the pointed tooth ends have been forced into the wastepaper block, the teeth of the two plates are displaced in sliding engagement with each other to cut off the wires.
With the conventional automatic wire cutting apparatus, the tooth plates have to be forced into the wastepaper block before the wires are cut off or processed. Inasmuch as the wires are embedded in the wastepaper block at a considerably large depth, a substantial force must be applied to the tooth plate in order to push the tooth ends deeply into the wastepaper block. Sometimes, the wires may not be cut off because the tooth ends are not driven deeply enough to reach the wires. When cutting off the wires, the wastepaper is also cut off, producing a large quantity of paper dust which makes the working environment bad.